“In a few months, nearly 3 million freshmen will head off to college. Included in the gear most of them lug along will be a computer, often brand new. This year I have some advice for the college-bound: Unless you have a compelling reason not to go with a Mac, an Apple laptop or desktop offers the best combination of features, ease of use, and value,” Stephen H. Wildstrom writes for BusinessWeek. “While I have been a Mac fan for years, I have never felt strongly enough to make the Mac a default recommendation. But things have changed. Mac software, both the OS X operating system and the applications such as iPhoto and GarageBand bundled with it, have gotten steadily better, while Windows seems stuck in a rut. Meanwhile, new Mac hardware based on Intel processors has erased the performance gap between Macs and products from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and others in the Windows camp. The move to Intel also lets Macs run most Windows programs, either by rebooting using Apple’s Boot Camp software, or right on the Mac desktop using Parallels Workstation.”
MacDailyNews Take: Performance gap erased? Tell it to a Power Mac G5 Quad owner. We grow tired of the revisionists’ love for Intel. We’re not specifically targeting Wildstrom here, he’s just the one who set us off on this tangent. Many times have we heard and read, “Now, I can consider a Mac since they went Intel!” And this was even before Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop for Mac, by the way. Before the Core Duo, the PowerPC-based Macs were competitive at the very least with Intel-powered PCs. The people that lovingly accept Macs now just because they come with Intel Inside should know that they sound silly. They must be brainwashed after years of hearing Intel’s chimes in TV and radio ads. Somehow, just knowing that the processor says “Intel” instead, makes some people more accepting of Macs. To them we say that PowerPC-based Macs offered the exact same superior experience vs. Windows PCs for years and years. Yes, just before the Intel switch, the PowerPC G4 we were all stuck with in Mac portables suffered from a performance gap vs. some portable PCs, but there was no such performance gap when Apple’s first G4 PowerBooks debuted. And the G5’s inside the last Power Mac towers certainly did not have any such gap on the desktop. A Power Mac G5 Quad offers unmatched price/performance right now, today. The new processors from Intel that Apple’s using now are not Pentiums. Apple was right to switch when they did, but they were also right not to switch to Intel sooner. By the way, this is written on an Intel-powered MacBook Pro and the performance is amazing! But, those who change their opinion and accept Macs now based solely on the fact that they have “Intel Inside” are just plain silly. Now, back on-topic:
Wildstrom continues, “Students who know about Windows Vista, the first major improvement in Windows in five years, might be inclined to stick with PCs. But Vista, which won’t be out until next year, may not do much more than catch up to OS X. And before Vista ships, Apple plans to release a new version of OS X called Leopard that will likely raise the bar even higher.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David K.” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: One more thing… Students: Buy a Mac get a free iPod nano.
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MDN, you’re pretty OFF today…
Yes, performance gap erased. The article is talking about notebooks for students not PowerMac G5 desktops.
I agree with MacZeus, Apple was losing serious ground with their portables, before the MacBook there was a huge performance gap between a $1200 iBook and a $1200 Dell. Good thing the Intel Core-duo’s closed that gap, big time.
MacZeus,
Even a God should read the full article:
Apple, of course, offers a much more limited range of hardware than Windows vendors do. It has just three laptop and two desktop lines, excluding the professionally oriented Power Mac workstations. In laptops, which most students probably prefer, there’s the 13-in. widescreen MacBook starting at $1,099, and the 15.4-in. and 17-in. widescreen MacBook Pros, starting at $1,999 and $2,799, respectively. In each case, even the base models are pretty well loaded; the one step I recommend, if you are looking at a model with just 512 megabytes of memory, is to increase that to 1 gigabyte.
Apple offers two unique desktop designs, either of which is better suited to the cramped confines of a dorm room than a Windows desktop. At the low end is the very compact Mac mini, which comes without a keyboard or a screen and is available for either $599 or $799. The extra $200 buys you the Intel Core Duo processor, which is well worth the money. The other design option is the elegant all-in-one iMac with a 17-in. ($1,299) or 20-in. ($1,699) flat-panel display.
So, Wildstrom is talking about notebooks and desktops for students.
MDN is, of course, correct. An iMac G5 offered the same superior experience to students for years. Some people I’ve talked to are all excited that Macs went Intel for no other reason than “Intel Inside” is all they know.
Agree totally with MacZeus. Perception is more important than reality: people believe the MHz myth and the Intel transition “erases” the performance gap in their minds. One less reason not to choose Mac. Who cares if people get it wrong about relic machines — G5 is gone (or will be once MacPro appears). Positive press is positive press, even if it perpetuates certain antiquated myths.
The MacBooks are selling well. However I recommend students buy desktops if possiable.
Desktops are less likely dropped, stolen or suffer spill damage.
The next revision of the iMac will be a very nice machine indeed.
MacZeus,
What part of “we’re not specifically targeting Wildstrom here, he’s just the one who set us off on this tangent” don’t you understand?
Excellent point, MacZeus!
Dude, I did read the whole article. Students buy notebooks for school, ever see anyone bring an iMac into class? Me neither.
The article was correct that Intel erased the performance gap in the type of Macs that students choose probably 95% of the time. Notebooks. End of story.
Jimy,
Why is MacZeus’ an “excellent point” when he’s wrong? Read the MDN Take in full – they explain the notebooks vs. desktops stuff quite well. And read Wildstrsom’s full article where he’s not just “talking about notebooks for students.”
Am I the only one getting tired of those: “MacDailyNews Take”-things?…
TRY PUTTING 2 DUAL CORE G5’s IN A LAPTOP!!!
Pete, besides the fact that MDN added that line to their take after the fact, it is still an un-necessary tangent. The article made a legitimate point, MDN took it out of context and went off on a rant.
FactChecker,
There was a performance gap from late-2005 iMac G5 to MacTel iMac. I wasn’t aware that faster performance was a bad thing.
apparently i’m not…
Strike 3 for MDN today.
1. Ford and GM FUD
2. Their Merrill Lynch “decelerate” error. (which they removed and called it a “quibble.”
3. Denial of authors performance gap statment.
MDN –
G4 products for three years straight were getting pelted by Intel and AMD (AMD more so).
For three years Apple G4 anything got to watch Centrino laptops and P4 desktops take reign and dominate in speed. That’s not opinion, that’s simply a fact.
Even AltiVech as great as it is, eventually got beat by sheer Intel horsepower. PSD files moving faster on a Windows box? True, but hard to swallow.
Enter the G5:
The G5 really changed things on the desktop side of the house for Apple, and yes, your Quad system is not only impressive, it’s a monster. Power a-hoy!
Currently, AMD has some product that can meet or best the now-getting-stale PPC970 product family, while Intel’s desktop series is on life support…
This is about to change with Conroe and Woodcrest in the workstation arena.
But again, G4 products were getting thumped by any type of competitive offering from the Wintel side of the house.
As for me and my dual 2.5 G5, we are doing just fine.
~Steven
I agree, Digital Kid. The next iMacs will be nice. I know they will probably have the core 2 duo processors. Maybe if they release them early enough this year we can get an ultra-pimp version in january with a true HD display, 4 core chip, and blu-ray burner. high hopes keep me optomistic, but this model of the iMac may even be another year after my anticipated date.
MACZEUS, RETURN YE TO THY CONFINES OF THY AFTERLIFE!!! THOU HAST NO BUSINESS COMMENTING ON THINGS WHICH YE DO NOT TENDER!! COME, PUT AWAY THY PEDERASTIC TENDENCIES AND RETURN NOW TO THY RIGHTFUL PLACE AT THE SIDE OF THE ONE TRUE GOD.
Translation: Get back home or as GOD I’ll kick your f-cking ass.
I have a friend who is about to make the switch. She’s going with the black Macbooks. She said that one of the reasons she’s going to switch is because when she went to the Dell website, she didn’t like how the prices dramatically increase once you started upgraded some of the features. I told her that the best part about getting the Macbook is that you’re getting 2 laptops for the price of one. She wasn’t aware that u can boot windows on the Macbooks.
The Quad-core G5’s are monster machines. BUT, once Apple sticks an Intel chip, all of the performance-gap arguments will thankfully come to a COMPLETE end.
MacZeus,
Making up stats without a source is a fun diversion, but it doesn’t help your argument.
Unlike you, I have sources and the facts:
Increasingly, notebooks are the computers of choice. Laptop sales in the back-to-school sales period, the industry’s second-busiest season after holidays, hit a record volume during the first week of August, according to Current Analysis Inc. Notebooks captured more than half of all computer sales every month since May, hitting a high of 57 percent market share in August 2005. – Current Analysis
Thanks to sales seen of late, the portable PC category is well on its way to eclipsing the 30 percent mark and should reach 35 percent of PC sales in the U.S. market by 2007, IDC said. – Current Analysis
So, let’s say, with much more realism, that perhaps 60% of students choose portables while some 40% choose desktops. That’s why you don’t see students carting iMacs into class, but you do find them in their dorm rooms.
Again, in the full article, Wildstrom covers both portables and desktops. He covers both for a reason.
MDN has a very valid point that people are silly for liking Apple Macs now when they didn’t before just because Macs have Intel processors.
Article: “While I have been a Mac fan for years, I have never felt strongly enough to make the Mac a default recommendation. But things have changed. Mac software, both the OS X operating system and the applications such as iPhoto and GarageBand bundled with it, have gotten steadily better, while Windows seems stuck in a rut. Meanwhile, new Mac hardware based on Intel processors has erased the performance gap between Macs and products from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and others in the Windows camp CORRECT STATEMENT
MDN: Performance gap erased? Tell it to a Power Mac G5 Quad owner. WRONG/NOT RELATED
The article says Mac hardware based on Intel Processors has closed the performance gap. The author is not talking about PowerMac G5’s in his statment, he is referring to notebooks, which students generally use.
“new Mac hardware based on Intel processors has erased the performance gap between Macs and products from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and others in the Windows camp.”
More like the PERCEIVED performance gap, which is probably more important than the actual perfomance.
The strategy is simple. Apple has reduced this war down to an OS choice, and brought Windows out from behind its false defense of hardware choice. Then throw in the little thing called BootCamp and Parallels.
The choice now is simple: MacOS or Windows
It’s ON!
“Am I the only one getting tired of those: “MacDailyNews Take”-things?…”
simple solution: don’t read it, or better yet, why do you keep coming back?
The MDn take is part of this site’s humor. There are plenty of other bland sites out there to visit.
Zeus,
You must have missed this part of MDN’s Take: “Yes, just before the Intel switch, the PowerPC G4 we were all stuck with in Mac portables suffered from a performance gap vs. some portable PCs, but there was no such performance gap when Apple’s first G4 PowerBooks debuted.”
Despite Bill’s false statement that “MDN added that line to their take after the fact.” That line has been there since the article was posted, I know, I read this article as soon as it popped up in RSS.
MDN Take: “We’re not specifically targeting Wildstrom here, he’s just the one who set us off on this tangent.” And MDN closes with, “Now, back on-topic:”
That’s extremely clear, no?
If no, what’s not clear about it?
And so, in the end, MDN’s point is correct: People who wouldn’t consider a Mac without Intel that will consider a Mac now just because of Intel are foolish. They could have had it all years ago.
The author says “performance gap”, but he doesn’t say which way the gap went. Whichever way it went, the switch to intel erases the performance gap. Same processors!!!!
MDN: “By the way, this is written on an Intel-powered MacBook Pro and the performance is amazing! But, those who change their opinion and accept Macs now based solely on the fact that they have “Intel Inside” are just plain silly.”
MDN have you installed Windows yet? How does it work on the your MacBook Pro?